[Linux-aus] SPF problems too

[Russell Coker]

On Fri, 15 Jan 2016 11:04:45 PM Steve Walsh wrote:
> As I've already indicated, we're working to fix this issue, but that's
> why AC is seeing mail come in out of order. It's the way the software
> unfortunately operates. It's a bit of a stretch to jump from the way the
> software operates to indicate that people aren't doing their job, or
> that the system is broken, and just being ignored, but, congratulations,
> you made it.

It's good that the policy regarding moderation has been publicised.  Prior to 
that it's not unreasonable for people to suspect that as a cause of mail 
delay.  Lots of other lists are run by people who pull stunts like moderating 
people without telling them.

I think that ac overreacted a bit, but I don't think that they were being 
particularly unreasonable in suspecting moderation.  In many other situations 
such a suspicion could be correct.

> On 01/15/2016 08:57 PM, Russell Coker wrote:
> > Thanks for the vote of confidence in my abilities.   I do make mistakes
> > on occasion, and in retrospect just adding a DMARC entry and sending
> > mail to lists was a mistake.  But a correctly behaving list won't
> > unsubscribe people because of a mistake made by one member.
> 
> In all seriousness, how will the list server know what happened here?
> You were experimenting with DMARC, there was a configuration error made
> ( a mail server error? from RC? uh oh Brent, better find some tightey
> whiteys), and a flurry of bounces came in. Mailman did what mailman is
> programmed to do.

The mail server won't know.  It just has to be able to send out mail that is 
valid according to DKIM/DMARC checks.

> On 01/15/2016 09:06 PM, Russell Coker wrote:
> > Also do we even have a problem that greylisting will solve?  The server
> > does SPF checks so anyone who has a SPF record with -ALL won't have
> > their mail spoofed.  The server will only accept mail from subscribers
> > so we won't have a problem of spam from random addresses being sent.
> 
> As you've probably seen in the mail headers, the host is called "mailhost".
> 
> "mailhost" does many things for LA, of which the mailman lists is only a
> small thing. It does all the SMTP and IMAP for the LCA and PyCon-AU
> teams, and, when we have the chance, it will do it all for Linux
> Australia. It also does mail filtering for the various RT instances that
> are in use by LA, LCA, PYCON and others. This means we get a lot of
> spam. A lot. Any of the list admins will tell you how much spam gets
> through the filters as it stands, even when we're quite aggressive.

https://rimuhosting.com/knowledgebase/linux/mail/greylisting%20with%20postgrey

It is possible to have greylisting for some accounts, the above is one of the 
first Google hits for "greylisting per user".  I might do something like this 
for the LUV server as it will soon be hosting IMAP accounts as well as mailing 
lists.

-- 
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